Letter file



J. F. LASH. LETTER FILE.

Patented'Nov. 26,l 1889..

. "llluuuunnumy (No Model.)

WVM/La @o I W UNITEDl STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. LASH, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR TO ZEBULN AITON LASII, OF SAME PLACE.

LETTER-Fl LE.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,036, dated November 26, 1889.

Application tiled May 9, 1889. Serial No'. 310,207. (No model.)

To all whom, tmay concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN FANNoN LAsH, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at the city of Toronto, in the county of York, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Files, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of letter-les which consist of two arches, in which each arch is so constructed as to be opened or separated to admit of papers beingstrung on the file, and when the arches are again closed the papers cannot fall off, and any number of papers can be slipped past the junctures of the wires, and any particular paper may be taken off the iile without unstringing the others.

I shall confine my description to a file of my own invention of the above class, although my improvements consist materially not so much in the arrangement of the parts which make up the arches or the manner of opening and closing them as in the particular method of maintaining the wires of the arches -,n contact after being closed, which may be more readily understood by reference to the drawing.

The iig-ure represents a file constructed with my improvements therein.

I will call the parts which go to make up an arch a pair of filing-wires. Each arch consists of a iling-wire,'as B, and an arched transfer-wire, as C.

A is the bed-plate.

B B are the iling4wires, which may be either solid or tubular.

C C are the arched transfer-wires,,which may be either solid or tubular. h

It may be observed that the tiling-wires B B are secured to the bed-plate in a rigid manner, and the arched transfer-wires C C are made of one piece of wire, or at least should be joined rigidly together, so that they will move in unison,and they are hinged to the bed-plate, so that their ends D D will oscillate toward and come in contact with the points E E of the tiling-wires B B when the ile is being closed. It should be also observed that the arched transfer-wires C C are bent inward toward the bases of the filingwires B B and hinged to the bed-plate much nearer to the filing-wires than would be the case if they were not bent inwardly, as shown. This is an advantage, for by this construction the arched transfer-wires by their own weight and assisted by the weight of papers that may be transferred to them will fall backward and keep the le open when desirable, as in filing papers.

The particular method of interlocking the wires which compose the le, so as to-main tain them in contact, is an important feature in thisinvention, and I will now describe it.

I construct one of the ends D of the arched transfer-wire C so thatwhen it strikes its corresponding point E of the Wire B it will engage it, so as not to slip past it when pressed with sufficient force to close the le, and I construct the other end D of the other arched transfer-wire C so that when it is slipped past its corresponding point E of the wire B it will hook over it and engage it, so as not to slip back of its own accord and thus interlock the four ends of the wires, the natural tension or spring of the wires being sufficient to maintain a close connection. A simple and convenient method of forming a connection that can be easily hooked and unhooked consists in forming sharp points on the filingwires B B (adapted to puncture papers being strung thereon) and drilling out or hollowing the ends of the arched transfer-wires at D D (if not already tubular) and iiling them slantingly through to the cavities, so that the sharpened points E E of the wires B B will tit into the cavities at D D and press against the inner sides thereof. If the end D of the arched transfer-wire O is iiled slantingly through to the cavity on the con- Vex side ot' the arch, it will of course engage with and retain the point E of the wire B when moved against it, as in closing the file, and if the end D of the arched transfer-wire C is filed slantingly through to the cavity on the concave sideof the arch when it is slipped past the point E of the wire B it may be engaged therewith, and will consequently interlock each arched transfer-wire with its respective filing-wire, one arched transfer-wire shoving and the other pulling its corresponding filing-wire. It may be observed that the IOO same result will be obtained if the construction above described be reversed by shaping the ends B B as described for C C.

Having noT described my improvements in the construction of duplex arched letteriiles, I claiml. The combination of the Iiling-wiresB B and the arched transfer-wires C C', having their points respectively constructed and arranged so that the Wires in one pair Will engage each other When pressed in contact by the closing of the file, and the Wires in the other pair Will engage each other when onev is slipped past the other and adj usted against it so as to interlock the four Wires by' their natural spring, substantially as described.

- The combination of iling-Wires-such ively, as at D and E-viz., one Wire shaped t0 engage the other in such a manner as not to slip past it when pressed in contact upon the tile being` cl0sed-and also respectively as at D and E-viz., one Wire being shaped so that when slipped past the other it Will engage it in such a manner as to retain itin contact by the natural spring of the wires-substantially as described.

3. In a letter-le, the combination of the tilingewires B B and the arched transfer-Wires C C', bent inward, as at F, toward the tilingwires B B and hinged to the bed-plate much nearer to the filing-wires than would be the case if they Were not bent inwardly, as shown in the drawings, substantially as described.

' J OHN4 F. LASH.

Titnessesz A. MAGKENZIE, ROBERT GoWANs. 

